The Edwardian house used as a set for a rom-com starring Imelda Staunton, Celia Imrie, Joanna Lumley and Timothy Spall is up for sale through country house agents for £3.75m.

In the film Finding Your Feet - currently showing in cinemas from here to Australia - the imposing seven bedroom property in the village of Chorleywood is the enviable home of Imelda Staunton’s toffee nosed character ‘Lady’ Sandra Abbott and her husband Mike played by John Sessions.

The story kicks off with a party at Bannits House to celebrate his retirement from a top job in the police. Everything goes according to plan until shock, horror, she discovers him in a clinch with her best friend.

Distraught by the realisation he’s been having an affair she takes off to seek solace from a hippy sister she hasn’t seen in years.

What follows is the heartwarming story of a betrayed wife getting a second chance to find love when she ventures out of her comfort zone and joins a community dance class for third agers – cue for Spall and Lumley to waltz into the plot.

“I saw the preview last night – it’s lovely, funny, sad, touching and uplifting. The audience clapped and cheered,” says Carole Cohen.

Nothing toffee nosed about the real life owner of Bannits House. It has been a truly happy home for her family for almost 40 years. She and her late husband Peter bought it in October 1978. They brought up their three children there.

This week she received an email from a cousin who had seen the film in Australia. She said: ”She didn’t know part of it was filmed at Bannits. She couldn’t believe it when she recognised our house. She was bouncing up and down on her seat in the cinema.”

Peter and Carol lived in a flat in London when they were first married. They started their search for a house with a garden in 1977 when their second child was on the way.

Carol added: “Prices in London were prohibitive. Friends who live in Kings Langley suggested we looked in the Bucks/Herts area.

“We missed out on a lovely place on the private Loudwater Estate between Little Chalfont and Rickmansworth – gazumping was rife at the time.

“We saw Bannits House, loved it but it was out of our price range. We put in an offer for what we could afford, didn’t hear anything and eventually bought a stop gap house because we’d sold our flat in London and we needed somewhere before the baby was born.

“Out of the blue not long afterwards we had a call from the owner of Bannits. He said their previous sale had fallen through, they wanted a quick sale and they were willing to accept our price.

“We only lived in the stop gap house for ten months. We liked the area but the house didn’t feel right for us, not like Bannits. This house instantly felt right. ”

The house in Chorleywood was originally built in 1908. It’s still recognisable as an Arts & Crafts house.

Ten years ago the couple added an extension which has taken the overall living area to not far short of 8,000 sq ft. Almost everything they’ve added since then has had to be bespoke to get the proportions right.

The standout feature is the Cotteswood kitchen open plan with the breakfast room and family room. End to end it’s 52ft.

Each of the original reception rooms – sitting room, formal dining room, study and panelled drawing room/library – now has doors onto to the orangery that’s almost the full width of the back of the house. 

Square paned windows and alcoves creating sitting areas overlook the one and a quarter acre garden. 

The panelling with bookshelves in the library was designed and built by Roger Board, the Wimbledon-based cabinet maker responsible for the restoration of the wood carving at the Mansion House and also for joinery in Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace and Hampton Court.

Upstairs are five bedrooms and five bathrooms spread over the two upper floors. The palatial master suite has two dressing rooms both fitted by Strachan. There are two further bedrooms in the adjoining self contained converted coach house.

Since Peter’s death five years ago the house has continued to be the natural gathering point for their three children and seven grandchildren. Five of the grandchildren got parts as extras in Finding Your Feet.

When the cousins come to stay including Josh, Zac and Isabella (pictured with Imelda) they sleep at the top of the house. They’ve stuck up a notice: VIPs Only.

Soon there will be a new venue for get-togethers. Carole has decided to downsize which is why Bannits, her much loved family home with the adjoining converted coach house plus further outbuildings including a triple garage block is for sale through Strutt & Parker in Gerrards Cross and Savills in Rickmansworth.